


Joyflight

by Kalua



Category: Mary Poppins (Broadway Musical), Mary Poppins (Movies)
Genre: Cringe is dead time to write this kind of stuff, F/M, POV First Person, Self-Insert, Wish Fulfillment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 18:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalua/pseuds/Kalua
Summary: With Mary Poppins around, a normal day in the park soon turns to something far more memorable - Say, a quick dragon ride, for example.(Beware! Here there be gratuitious wish fulfillment and shameless self-inserts)





	Joyflight

The clouds hung low over London, but as far as I was concerned, it was a great day nonetheless. Bert was playing a merry tune to entertain the few people walking past, and some even had a penny or two to spare; most didn’t stand still long enough to even look at the stuffed animals I’d made, let alone buy one, but there would be better days. As long as we had each other, we could make it work.

“Ohhh, look at them, Mary Poppins! They’re so cute!”

A young voice ripped me from my thoughts. Guess I got too distracted listening to Bert to notice the kid running up to my little stand—I hadn’t even noticed Mary following her.

I smiled and crouched down a bit. “Aren’t they? Is there one you like especially well?”

The little girl studied the animals as I stood back up. “Nice to see you, Mary.”

Bert’s music stopped. I could tell he would’ve loved to give Mary a kiss, but as things stood, he had to settle for a deep bow. When he straightened again, he was grinning. “What brings you here on such a gloomy day?”

“Gloomy or not, some fresh air can do wonders.” She gave Bert a gentle smile, though her tone of voice didn’t change.

The little girl turned around and tilted her head to the side. “You know them, Mary Poppins?”

“The three of us have known each other for a while,” I answered. The kid was precious. “What’s your name, little one? Have you decided on an animal?”

“Um, I’m Jenny.” She seemed a bit intimidated—I never thought I’d manage to scare someone! “But... I don’t think we can afford one.”

Poor kid seemed really sad about it, too. She looked up at one of the dragons, so I reached up to get it down. “This one’s caught your eye though, right?”

She nodded, but took a step back when I tried handing it to her.

“Her name’s Zephyr. You know, Jenny, since you’re friends with Mary Poppins, you’re my friend, too. And if you’re a friend, I think I can give her to you if you _promise_ to be nice to her. Can you do that?”

Jenny’s eyes lit up and she nodded. “I can! I’ll be really good to her!” But then she hesitated and looked over at Mary. “Can I take her? Please?”

“Well, she said you could, so go on.” A smile played on Mary’s lips. Once you knew her, it was obvious how deeply she loved each and every one of her charges, regardless of how much she liked to pretend otherwise to make the farewells hurt less.

Jenny finally took the dragon and gently petted its head.

“One thing you should know about Zephyr is that she loves high places, and she spends most of her time flying around,” I told her. “So if you want to make her happy, leave a little open space on your highest shelf, and when you’re out, she’ll perch there. Can you do that?”

The girl nodded and lifted the dragon up towards the sky. Zephyr definitely found a loving home, and even if it didn’t get us any money, at least it made someone happy.

“What do you say, kid? Want to take her for a little flight?” Bert winked at Mary and pulled out a small pack of chalk. “I’ll go and make us a nice world for it.”

Mary watched as he started drawing on the nearest wall. “And how do you propose we enter said world, Bert?”

“Well, if you don’t want to use your magic, I guess Bert and I’ll have to try it out.” I looked over the other animals and pulled two more dragons from the shelves—Blaze for Bert and Shade for myself. “But I thought you’d like to join us for this little adventure.”

Bert finished up the last couple of strokes. “So, what do you say, Mary? Don’t you want to join us?”

“Please, Mary Poppins! Please!” Jenny hugged her dragon close as she looked up at her nanny.

Mary sighed. “Oh, very well then.” She took a stuffed pegasus from my shelves. “Line up everyone, chop-chop.”

Jenny grabbed Mary’s hand with her left and mine with her right, the dragon dangling between us, while I took Bert’s hand. A few steps forward, and we walked right into the drawing: A wide field with just a few trees here and there, and a near infinite blue sky.

Zephyr was the first dragon to start stirring.

“Let her go, Jenny. She wants to fly.” I opened my own hands, too, and Shade took flight, followed by Zephyr and Blaze. Mary’s pegasus joined the dragons, and after only a few wing flaps, they grew in size—and grew, and grew, and grew until all four of them were big enough to carry a person. Once they were done growing, they landed again, right in front of their rider.

“There you go!” Grinning, Bert lifted Jenny up and sat her on Zephyr’s back. “She’ll take good care of you!”

Zephyr growled and jumped up into the sky. Jenny squealed and held on tight, but soon grew comfortable on the dragon’s back.

“I trust you picked a dragon who won’t throw her?” Mary’s pegasus waited patiently by her side.

I took a moment to stroke Shade’s snout before mounting her. “Of course I took care of that. Zephyr will make sure she’s safe.” Once I sat securely, I grinned at my dragon. “So, are you two coming, too?”

Bert offered his hand to help Mary on her pegasus before jumping on his own dragon’s back. “Let’s go, buddy.” Blaze roared and took flight, following after Zephyr.

Mary rolled her eyes, but I could see she was smiling as her pegasus rose to join the others.

“All right then, Shade. We don’t want to lose to them, do we?”

I had no idea how long we spent up in the sky when Mary told us to land again.

“Do we have to?” Jenny asked, but even as she was speaking, Zephyr followed Mary’s pegasus back to the ground.

Blaze and Shade were right behind her; Bert was the first to jump off his dragon, then lifted Jenny down as well.

“Can’t we stay a bit longer, Mary?” Bert asked, his dragon’s head resting on his shoulder. It would’ve been cute, but with Blaze’s huge size, it looked more comical than anything.

“No, we can’t.” Even Mary’s pegasus let out a sad whinny and nudged her, but she just petted its head for a second. “No, not even if you ask this nicely. Come now, we should head home.”

Not accepting further complaints, Mary walked out of the painting, the rest of us trailing behind. I would’ve loved to keep flying, but at least I knew that with Mary around, this wouldn’t be the last fun trip, even if the next one probably wouldn’t lead us up to the sky.

Our trusty steeds left the drawing right after us. The pegasus first, already shrunk down to the size of a border collie; when Mary caught it in her arms, it was the same size it had been at first. Next were Blaze and Shade, and the last to leave was Zephyr. She circled Jenny once before landing on her shoulder, nuzzling the kid’s face on last time before she returned to being, to any observers, a normal stuffed toy.

Bert used the distraction to press a quick kiss on Mary’s cheek; she tried to give him a scolding look, but it wasn’t long before that made way for a smile, which was almost as adorable as Bert’s goofy grin.

Judging by the light, it was late afternoon already, meaning we’d been flying for hours. Much longer than I’d have thought, but if Mary hadn’t called us down, we might’ve stayed until midnight.

“Guess that’s it for today”, I said to the girl as I took Mary’s and Bert’s steeds. “But I’m sure as long as Mary is around, you’ll have lots of adventures.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Mary raised her eyebrows, but I just winked at Jenny.

Bert nodded. “And I hope you’ll let us be part of them from time to time, too.”

“Of course!” Jenny squealed and squeezed her dragon.

Mary just shook her head, but she couldn’t hide a smile. “All right, it’s time to leave now. Come on Jenny, your parents are waiting for you already.” She looked at Bert and me. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow; it’s my night off.”

“Well, you know how to find us.” Bert tapped his hat. “See you then, Mary.”

I waved after her and the kid before looking at the stand. “I guess it’s time for us to leave, too. Not like there’ll be many more people coming through, huh?”

Bert leaned down and gave me gentle kiss. “Probably not. Come on, I’ll help you pack up.”

**Author's Note:**

> 8 year old me wanted Mary and Bert to be together. 22 year old me still wants that, but also kind of wants to date Bert herself. So, why not fulfill both wishes in one fic? :D


End file.
